Work supporting assembling apparatus for the manufacture of electric lamps and the like



Jan. 11, 1966 5 DQRON T 3,228,100

WORK SUPPORTING ASSEMBLING APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC LAMPS AND THE LIKE Original Filed June 1, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 RlCHARD S. DORON BURLEIGH H. LEACH INVENTORS Jan. 11, 1966 R. s. DORON ETAL WORK SUPPORTING ASSEMBLING APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC LAMPS AND THE LIKE Original Filed June 1, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 RICHARD S. DORON BURLEIGH H. LEACH INVENTORS United States Patent 3,228,100 WORK SUPPORTING ASSEMELING APPARA- TUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ELEC- TRIC LAMPS AND THE LIKE Richard S. Doron and Burleigh H. Leach, Hamilton, Mass., assignors to Sylvania Electric Products Inc., a corporation of Delaware Continuation of application Ser. No. 368,537, May 19, 1964, which is a continuation of abandoned application Ser. No. 33,293, June 1, 1960. This application Feb. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 441,948

9 Claims. (El. 29-203) This application is a continuation of our co-pending application, Serial No. 368,537, filed May 19, 1964, now abandoned, in turn a continuation of our application, Serial Number 33,293, filed June 1, 1960, also now abandoned, and entitled Work Supporting Head for the Manufacture of Electric Lamps and the Like.

This invention relates to the manufacture of electric lamps and the like, and more particularly to the assemblage and fabrication of the several components thereof into a unitary structure.

In the manufacture of electric lamps and the like, a plurality of components or parts are brought together sequentially in a plurality of manufacturing operations performed on a plurality of complex lamp manufacturing machines. For example, over the years it has been the practice generally to utilize a stem machine on which lead-in wires, an exhaust tube and a glass flare are joined to provide a unitary sub-asssembly generally termed a stern. These stems are then transferred, manually or automatically, to a mount machine which is provided with a plurality of devices which effect the attachment to the lead-in wires of a filament and, in many types of incandescent lamps, one or more filament support wires, to provide a unitary sub-assembly generally termed a mount. These mounts are then transferred, manually or automatically, to a sealing machine having means for effecting a sealing of a mount to a bulb to provide an hermetically sealed lamp envelope with an exhaust tube depending therefrom. This unit of Work is then transferred to an exhaust machine which effects an evacuation of the envelope, after which the exhaust tube is sealed. After sealing, the lamp is based.

It will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that this system of manufacturing requires a substantial capital investment for the several major units of lamp manufacturing equipment just mentioned, In addition thereto, a number of operators and/ or a plurality of work transfer devices are also required. To insure maximum practical efiiciency of operation of these several units of lamp manufacturing equipment, care must be exercised to make sure that all of the heads of these machines are provided with articles of work at all times; and a corollary of this is that means must be provided for collecting and storing articles of work when a temporary malfunction is encountered on one of the machines.

A substantial improvement in manufacturing efficiency was attained with the development of the apparatus described in US. Patent 2,637,144 issued May 5, 1953 to R. M. Gardner et al. In accordance with the teachings of that patent a stem and a mount may be made on the same machine, i.e., after a stem has been made, the machine head which supports this article of work carries the stem to additional work stations where filament support wires if needed and a filament are attached to provide a completed lamp mount. Thus this one machine replaced the conventional two machines, i.e., the stem machine and the mount machine, along with the article transfer apparatus therebetween. One of the features of the apparatus disclosed in that patent is the utilization of a pair of parallel spaced conveyors of unequal extension, each of the conveyors being provided with a plurality of article-supporting devices equally spaced from one another and with the article-supporting devices on the shorter conveyor being accurately aligned with the articlesupporting devices on the longer conveyor during a major portion of the travel of the shorter conveyor, Fabrication of a lamp stem is effected when the pairs of articlesupporting devices on the two conveyors are aligned and in register with one another. During this phase of the machines operation, each of these paired article-supporting devices constitutes a head of the machine. However, When the stem manufacturing operations have been completed, the article-supporting devices on the shorter conveyor move out of register with their paired articlesupporting devices on the long conveyor, the article of work, the stem, now being supported entirely by the device on the longer conveyor, thus making possible the performance of further work on the stem, viz., the attach ment of filament support wires when necessary and the attachment of a filament to thus provide a finished mount.

The development of the apparatus just described effected a very substantial improvement in the efiiciency of stem and mount manufacturing. A principal object of this invention is to provide a head for the manufacture of electric lamps and the like which will make possible the attainment of further manufacturing efficiencies.

Another object of this invention is to provide a machine head which makes possible the ready disposition of the article of work carried thereby in any one of several posi tions during one complete cycle of the machine whereby a greater number of operations may be performed on the work carried by the head on one machine.

These and other objects, advantages and features are attained in accordance with the principles of this invention, by providing a machine with a work-supporting head wth one or more work-supporting devices mounted on a base member thereof in such a way that they can be moved to different positions during different portions of the operation cycle of the machine whereby a large number of assembly and fabricating operations can be performed during one cycle of the machine.

In the specific embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the head of this invention is illustrated and descrbed in connection with the manufacture of an AGI photoflash lamp and the sequence of operational steps illustrated are in connection with the manufacture of this particular type of lamp. However, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that the head structure may, with minor modifications, be adapted quite readily to the assembly and fabrication of other structures without departing from the spirit of this invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a specific embodiment of the head of this invention, showing particularly a segment of pro-shaped wire gripped by the jaws of a lower work-supporting device.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary detail of the lower WOlk supporting device of FIGURE 1 illustrating the positioning of a glass collar on the segment of pre-shaped wire held by said device.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary detail of the lower worksupporting device of FIGURE 1 showing the work still held as in FIGURES l and 2 but with the glass coll-at now fused to the legs of the wire to define a button, the bight of the wire severed and the end of the wire so defined flattened to provide a mounting surface for a filament.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary detail of the lower Worksupporting device of FIGURE 1 showing the work still 3 held as in FIGURES 1, 2, and 3 but with a filament attached to the flattened ends of the wire which is now two separate wires.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary detail of the lower worksup-porting device of FIGURE 1 showing it rotated 180? clockwise from the position it occupied in FIGURES 14 and showing a tubular lamp envelope enveloping the mount and resting on a surface of the jaws which grip the wires of the mount.

FIGURE 6 is a front elevational view of the head, similar to FIGURE 1, except that the lower work-supporting device has been rotated 180 clockwise. In this figure, the lamp envelope is gripped by an upper work- 'supporting device and a press has been formed at the lower end of the lamp envelope.

FIGURE 7 is a plan view of the head of FIGURE 6 along the line 77 thereof.

FIGURE 8 is a detail, taken along the line 88 of FIGURE 1, showing the wire-gripping jaws of the lower work-supporting device in the closed position.

FIGURE 9 is a detail, taken along the line 9-9 of FIGURE 1, showing the wire-gripping jaws of the lower work-supporting device in the open position.

FIGURE 10 is a front elevational view of the head, similar to FIGURE 6, except that the lower work-support ing device has been rotated counter-clockwise 90 from the FIGURE 6 position. As shown in this figure, the work is supported by the upper work-supporting device.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly FIGURE 1 thereof, the head comprises a body member or bracket 16 attached to a link 12 of a chain type conveyor, such as the upper chain conveyor in US. Patent 2,637,144 for example. Attached to the bracket 10 is an upper work-supporting device identified generally by the reference number 14 and a lower work-supporting device identified generally by the reference number 16.

The upper work-supporting device 14 comprises a fixed jaw 18 attached to bracket 10 and a bifurcated jaw 20 attached to one end of a swivel arm 22. The swivel arm 22 is provided with a hub 24 which fits between bosses 26 and 28 of bracket 10. The swivel arm 22. is supported in this position by a shaft 30 which extends through the bosses 26 and 28 and the hub 24, the swivel arm 22 being freely rotatable thereon. A spring 32, one end of which is connected to a pin 34 projecting from boss 26, and the other end of which is connected to a pin 36 upstanding on swivel arm 22, loads the swivel arm 22 so that the bifurcated jaw 20 mounted thereon is normally closed with respect to the fixed jaw 18.

The lower work-supporting device 16 comprises a pivot block 38 in the form of a parallelepiped supported by and freely rotatable on a pivot pin 40 which extends therethrough, the pivot pin 40 being pinned to and project-ing from the bracket 10. The pivot block 38 serves as the base member of the lower work-supporting device 16 to firmly grip an article of work therebetween.

The details of the lower work-supporting device 16 will now be described, reference being made particularly to FIGURES 1, 8 and 9. The work-supporting members of the lower work-supporting device 16 comprise a fixed jaw 42 and a pair of movable jaws 44 and 48. The fixed jaw -42 is attached to the pivot block 38 at 46. Although a single movable jaw may be employed satisfactorily in many applications, we have found that in 'the particular application described below in connection with this specific embodiment of the invention, a pair of movable jaws is preferable for reasons developed below. Movable jaw 44 is fixedly attached by screw to jaw lever '52 and depends therefrom (FIG. 1). The jaw lever 52 is pinned to drive pin 54 (FIGS. 8 and 9) which is supported in pivot block 38. A drive lever 56, also pinned to the drive pin 54, serves as the means for actuating the movable jaw 44. Clockwise rotation of drive lever 56 effects an opening of movable jaw 44 from the FIGURE 8 posi- 4 tion to the FIGURE 9 position. A spring 58 maintains the movable jaw 44 normally closed with respect to the fixed jaw 42, the spring 58 being supported by and extending between spring pin 60 depending from drive lever 56 and spring pin 62 upstanding on pivot block 38 (FIG. 1).

The other movable jaw, i.e., movable jaw 48, is attached by screw 64 (FIGS. 8 and 9) to a lever 66 from which it depends (FIG. 1). The lever 66 is supported by and is freely rotatable on drive pin 54 (FIGS. 8 and 9), the pin 54 extending through a hub portion of the lever 66. The lever 66 is further characterized by a substantially L-shaped portion, identified as legs 66a and 66b. Leg 66a normally lies adjacent to but spaced slightly from abutting engagement with movable jaw 44. Leg 66b is provided with a recess within which one end of spring 6 8 (FIG. 1) is disposed. The other end of spring 68 seats in a recess in pivot block 38. Thus spring 68, through lever 66, urges the movable jaw 48 to a normally closed position with respect to fixed jaw 42.

As mentioned above, a shaft 30 extends freely through bosses 26 and 28 of bracket 10. As will be noted from an examination of FIGURES 1 and 6, the lower end of shaft 30 is provided with a collar or foot 70 fixedly attached thereto, the collar 70 being in frictional engagement with the adjacent face of pivot block 38. The upper end of shaft 30 is provided with a spring 72 which loads the shaft '30 and normally urges the collar 70 on the lower end thereof into firm frictional engagement with the pivot block 38. One end of this spring 72 abuts a spring retainer 74 mounted on the bracket 10. The other end of spring 72 a'buts a lift block 76 which is pinned to shaft 30.

The operation of the head of this invention will now be described. As mentioned above, a plurality of these heads may be mounted in spaced relationship on the upper chain conveyor of a machine of the type shown in the reference Gardner et al. Patent 2,637,144, the lower chain conveyor of the patented apparatus being omitted. The chain conveyor is driven by a suitable indexing mechanism which advances the heads to a plurality of work stations. Article feeding devices are located at some of these work stations to provide the heads with lamp components. Suitable tools and fabricating devices are located at other work stations to perform certain Ippegations on the lamp components previously fed to the ea s.

When employed in the manufacture of AGI photoflash lamps, the first step in the manufacturing cycle of operation is feeding of a substantially U-shaped segment of wire 1 with hooks 3 formed on the free ends thereof to the lower work-supporting device 16 (FIG. 1). The lower work-supporting device 16 is prepared to receive the wire 1 by opening of the normally closed movable jaws 44 and 48. Opening of the jaws 44 and 48 from the normally closed position as shown in FIGURE 8 to the open position as shown in FIGURE 9 is effected by clockwise rotation of drive lever 56 on drive pin 54. Actuation of the drive lever 56 is elfected by suitable means not shown, such as a reciprocating finger, for example, which is moved into engagement with the tail of the lever and displaces it sufliciently to effect an opening of the jaws. Reciprocation of this finger is, of course, synchronized with the feeding of the wire 1 so that the jaws are open when the wire is fed by suitable means into the space defined by the opened jaws 42, 44 and 48 and the jaws are closed as soon as the wire has been posi tioned.

During the initial stage of the clockwise movement of the drive lever 56 about the drive pin 54 to which it is pinned, the movable jaw 44 moves with it since the movable jaw 44 is mounted on jaw lever 52 which is also pinned to drive pin 54. When the movable jaw 44 has been displaced sufiiciently to cause it to move into abutting engagement With leg 66a of lever 66 to which movable jaw 48 is attached, the movable jaw 48 then starts its Opening movement. Opening of jaw 48 is effected by the opening movement of jaw 44 since leg 66:: of lever 66 lies in its path. Thus the jaw deflects lever 66 and causes it to rotate clockwise about drive pin 54. This clockwise rotation of lever 66 compresses spring 68.

With the movable jaws 44 and 48 now open as shown in FIGURE 9, the wire 1 is inserted between them and fixed jaw 42, and then the movable jaws 44 and 48 are permitted to close with respect to the fixed jaw 42 to effect a gripping of the hooks 3 of the wire 1. The reciprocating finger which opened the movable jaws is retracted, thus permitting the springs 58 and 68 to close the movable jaws, the spring 58 drawing the drive lever 56 counter-clockwise to effect a closing of the jaw 44, and the spring 68 pushing the lever 66 counter-clockwise to effect a closing of the jaw 48. As noted above, the movable jaw assembly is preferably a two-jaw arrangement. This affords a compensating factor for any variations in Wire thickness and makes sure that both hooks 3 of wire 1 are firmly gripped. If desired, the opposing faces of one or more of the jaws 42, 44 and 48 may be serrated to further insure a firm, positive gripping of the wire 1.

With the wire 1 now gripped as just described, the head is advanced to another work station where a glass collar 5 is slipped over the looped end of wire 1 as shown in FIGURE 2, the spring tension of the wire being sufficient to support the collar 5 thereon. At a subsequent work station or stations, the collar 5 is heated to effect a fusion thereof to the legs of wire 1, thereby defining a button 7 as shown in FIGURE 3. At subsequent work stations the bight of wire 1 is severed to thereby provide two separate wires 1a and 1b and the free ends of these wires flattened as shown in FIGURE 3, and then a filament 9 is attached as shown in FIGURE 4. Up to this point in the manufacturing cycle a stem has been formed as shown in FIGURE 2 and this article of work then becomes a mount after a filament has been added thereto as shown in FIGURE 4.

The next operation to be performed on this article of work is to position it inside a lamp envelope and seal it thereto. In preparation for this, the lower worksupporting device 16 is rotated 180 from the FIGURE 1 position to the position which it occupies as shown in FIGURES 5 and 6. Elevation of shaft 30 is first effected in order to raise the collar or foot 70 which is on the lower end thereof, out of frictional engagement with the adjacent face of pivot block 38. Suitable means, such as an arm 80 (FIG. 6) for example, is moved into engagement with lift block 76 and then moved upwardly to move the collar 70 out of engagement with pivot block 38. At this same time a finger 82 (FIG. 6) is moved into gripping engagement with a pin 84 projecting laterally from pivot block 38. It is preferable that this finger 82 be moved into engagement with pin 84 before elevation of shaft 30 has been effected in order to maintain positive control of the positioning of the lower worksupporting device 16 at all times. As soon as the shaft 30 has been elevated the finger 82 is moved through an arc 180 clockwise as viewed in FIG. 1 thus effecting rotation of the pivot block 38 and its associated parts about the pivot pin 40 on which the pivot block 38 is freely rotatable. The arm 80 is then withdrawn to permit the spring 72 to push the shaft downwardly and return the collar 70 on the lower end thereof into frictional engagement with the new adjacent face of pivot block 38. The finger 82 is withdrawn from engagement with pin 84 thus completing the new orientation of the lower work-supporting device 16 for succeeding manufacturing operations on the work.

The upper work-supporting device 14 is then prepared for reception of a lamp envelope 11 which is in the form of a length of glass tubing. Swivel arm 22 is rotated counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 7 by suitable means not shown, such as a bar cam disposed in the path of this arm for example, to displace the bifurcated jaw 20 mounted thereon sufliciently from the fixed jaw 18 so that a lamp envelope 11 may be inserted therebetween. Suitable article transfer means may be employed to effect delivery of a lamp envelope 11 from a supply thereof to the head, the envelope 11 being positioned between the said jaws, in encompassing relationship with respect to the lamp mount and with its lower edge resting on the top surface of the jaws 42, 44, and 48 of the lower work-supporting device 16, as shown in FIGURE 5. After the lamp envelope 11 has been so positioned, the spring 32 draws the swivel arm 22 clockwise to close the bifurcated jaw 20 into gripping engagement with the envelope 11. The work is now ready for subsequent manufacturing operations to be performed thereon.

At a succeeding station or stations the lower end of the lamp envelope 11 is heated to a plastic state and a pair of suitable dies are moved into engagement therewith to form a press 13 (FIG. 6). With the formation of the press, a unitary article of work has been provided consisting of a lamp envelope having a lamp mount sealed therein. With this article of work disposed as shown in FIGURE 5, several additional operations may be performed thereon. For example, at one of the work stations a suitable primer applicator may be reciprocated into and out of the lamp envelope 11 through the open end thereof to provide the mount with primer as is well known in the art of manufacturing photoflash lamps. At still another work station a quantity of shredded foil may be introduced into the lamp envelope 11 through the open end thereof to provide the lamp with its lightproducing combustible material.

An additional feature of flexibility of the head of this invention is illustrated in FIGURE 10. The article of work shown in FIGURE 6 is illustrated in this figure as supported exclusively by the upper work-supporting device 14, the lower work-supporting device 16 having been rotated counter-clockwise to a substantially vertical position thus making the lower end of the lamp envelope 11 readily accessible for work thereon. With the head and the work so disposed, suita ble tools at a subsequent work station may form the looped portions of the lead-in wires depending from the press 13 into electrical contacts for engagement in a suitable receptacle by bending these depending loops back on the press 13 on opposite sides thereof. It will be readily appreciated that before the lower work-supporting device 16 may be displaced, the movable jaws 44 and 48 must be opened to free the lead-in wires depending from the press and the shaft 30 must be elevated to free the pivot block 38 for rotation. Means similar to those described above for opening these jaws initially for reception of the U- shaped wire 1 may be employed to perform this same operation, this time to release the work. Freeing of the pivot block for rotation may be affected by means similar to arm 88 in FIGURE 6. Similarly, a finger-like finger 82 in FIGURE 6 may be employed to affect the actual rotation.

In the foregoing description of a specific embodiment of the head of this invention, many of the steps employed in the manufacture of a particular type of lamp have been illustrated and described in order to present by way of specific example the structural features of the head. It will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications of the specific head structure shown and described above will readily suggest them selves for adaptation thereof for a multitude of different applications Although the lower work-supporting device 16 has been illustrated and described in three different operating positions, it will be readily understood that since the base member of this device, the pivot block 38, is rotatable in a vertical plane parallel to the line of travel of the chain conveyor, slight structural modifications would permit even greater versatility. For example, the inner portion of the pivot block 38 could be modified to present a cylindrical surface instead of three flat surfaces, and the collar 70 could be modified to present a cooperating curved surface whereby the lower work-supporting device 16 could then be locked in any position in a vertical plane parallel to the line of travel of the chain conveyor. This would then permit great flexibility of orientation of the work for operations thereon by devices, tools and the like at various work stations.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine for manufacturing electric lamps and the like having a single conveyor and a plurality of work stations, a head secured to the conveyor and comprising a common body member, a first work-supporting device having first jaws extending laterally from said body member, a second work-supporting device having second jaws also mounted on said body member, said second work-supporting device being mounted on a pivot perpendicular to the body member, the pivot being located on the body member so that in a first position of the second work supporting device the first jaws and the second jaws are out of alignment for work loading into the second jaws, in a second position, the second jaws are in alinement with the first jaws for assembly operation, and in a third position of the second Worksupport-ing device, the second jaws extend in a plane perpendicular to the first jaws to allow free access to work held by the first jaws, and means to hold the second work-supporting device in any of said positions.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein the means to hold the second work-supporting device in any of the three positions are a portion integral with the second work supporting device and a portion supported by the body member.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein the three angular position-s are spaced 90 from each other.

4. The structure of claim 2 wherein said first worksupporting device comprises jaws biased to grasp a tube and the second work-supporting device comprises second jaws biased to grasp filamentary material, the second jaws in one of its positions being horizontal, with the work depending from the jaws, to facilitate operations being performed on the work, the jaws in a second position being swung 180 from the first position with the work extending above the jaws for juncture with the tube held by the first jaws and the jaws in the third position being displaced 90 from the jaws in either of the first or third positions whereby the second jaws may be out of the way while further operations are performed on the assembled unit of tube and work now held by the first aws.

5. In a machine for assembling component parts of electric lamps and the like having a single conveyor and a plurality of work stations, a plurality of work stations during an operating cycle thereof, a head secured to said conveyor for supporting articles of work during said operation cycle, said head comprising a body member, a first work holder and a second work holder on said body member, said first work holder having a fixed jaw and a second jaw biased toward said first jaw and mounted on said body member to pivot on a vertical axis, both jaws extending laterally from the body member, said second work holder being pivotally mounted on a pivot block which is movable on a pin extending perpendicularly from the body member, said second work holder mounting second cooperating jaws, one of which is biased toward the other, means cooperating with said block whereby it may be held in ay one of three angular positions with relation to said pin, said second cooperating jaws in a first position of the block being out of register with the jaws of the first work holder, with its own jaws extending horizontally, the two sets of jaws in a second position of the block being in registration with one another, and the jaws on the second work holder in a third position of the block extending vertically downward and out of the way of work held by 8 the first work holder, the movable jaws being provided with areas which may be engaged so the jaws may be moved against the biases imposed thereon.

6. In a machine for assembling components of electric lamps and the like having a single conveyor and a plurality of work stations, a head secured to said conveyor for supporting articles of work during said operating cycle, said head comprising a common body member having a first work supporting structure including laterally extending jaws, one of said jaws being fixed to the body member and the other jaw being movable and spring biased toward the first jaw for clamping a first work piece and provided with a swivel arm pivoted on a vertical shaft, said shaft being held between two bosses extending later ally from said body member, rotation of said swivel arm effecting movement of the movable jaw, a pivot pin below the bosses extending laterally from the body and in a vertical plane perpendicular to the body member and passing through the shaft, a block small in height and long in width pivoted on said pivot pin, said block in a first position carrying laterally thereof a second pair of jaws out of register with the first pair of jaws one of which is movable and spring pressed toward the other whereby the movable jaw may be operated to insert a second work piece therebetween and depending from the jaws, said block in a second position rotated from the first position having the second pair of jaws on a side of the block in vertical registry with the first pair of jaws and with the second work piece extending upwardly from the jaws, for joining with the first work piece, means on the block enabling it to be rotated on the pivot pin, said block being rotatable to a third position wherein the second pair of jaws extend downwardly and out of the vertical plane of the first pair of jaws and with the long dimension of the block vertical, the smaller dimension being horizontal, whereby further work operations may be performed on the joined work pieces without hindrance by the second pair of jaws on the supporting block or by the block itself, said block being provided with a pin whereby it may be rotated, and means for locking the block in any of its three rotated positions.

7. In a machine for assembling components of electric lamps and the like having a single conveyor and a plurality of work stations, a head secured to said conveyor and for supporting work pieces comprising a body member provided with vertically alined spaced bosses at the upper portion thereof and extending laterally from the member and a pivot shaft between the bosses, a first pair of jaws comprising a fixed jaw carried by the body member at the upper end thereof and a cooperating jaw pivoted on the shaft and spring biased toward the fixed jaw, a pivot pin at the lower end of said body member extending laterally thereof and in that vertical plane passing through the shaft which is perpendicular to the body member, a block in the form of a parallelepiped pivoted on said pin, said block in a first position having the long dimension of its vertical end face horizontal and provided with cooperating second laterally extended jaws, one of which is spring biased toward another, with the second jaws out of register with the first jaws, said block being pivotable to a second position wherein the first and second sets of jaws are in register, said block being further pivotable to a third position wherein the long dimension of the block is vertical and wherein the narrow dimension of the block is horizontal, with the second set of jaws extending downwardly from the block, means to hold the block in any selected ones of these three positions, and means to facilitate the rotation of the block.

8. The structure of claim 7 wherein the securement of the head to the conveyor is effected by a means of a lateral flange on the head.

9. The structure of claim 7 wherein the means to hold the block against rotation comprises a shaft having a foot adapted, to engage. a face of the block and spring means 9 10 to urge the shaft and foot against a selected face of the 2,775,069 12/ 1956 Millington 140-716 X block- 2,910,166 10/1956 Wiltshire et a1 198-33 References Cited by the Examiner 3,066,396 12/1962 Erkelens et a1 29203 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 WHITMORE A. WILTZ, Primary Examiner. 2,609,943 9/1952 Winder 214 1 2,637,144 5/1953 Gardner et a] 198-179 X THOMAS EAGER, Emmer- 

1. IN A MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING ELECTRICAL LAMPS AND THE LIKE HAVING A SINGLE CONVEYOR AND A PLURALITY OF WORK STATIONS, A HEAD SECURED TO THE CONVEYOR AND COMPRISING A COMMON BODY MEMBER, A FIRST WORK-SUPPORTING DEVICE HAVING A FIRST JAWS EXTENDING LATERALLY FROM SAID BODY MEMBER, A SECOND WORK-SUPPORTING DEVICE HAVING SECOND JAWS ALSO MOUNTED ON SAID BODY MEMBER, SAID SECOND WORK-SUPPORTING DEVICE BEING MOUNTED ON A PIVOT PERPENDICULAR TO THE BODY MEMBER, THE PIVOT BEING LOCATED ON THE BODY MEMBER SO THAT IN A FIRST POSITION OF THE SECOND WORK SUPPORTING DEVICE THE FIRST JAWS AND THE SECOND JAWS ARE OUT OF ALIGNMENT FOR WORK LOADING INTO THE SECOND JAWS, IN A SECOND POSITION, THE SECOND JAWS ARE IN ALINEMENT WITH THE FIRST JAWS FOR ASSEMBLY OPERATION, AND IN A THIRD POSITION OF THE SECOND WORKSUPPORTING DEVICE, THE SECOND JAWS EXTEND IN A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO THE FIRST JAWS TO ALLOW FREE ACCESS TO WORK HELD BY THE FIRST JAWS, AND MEANS TO HOLD THE SECOND WORK-SUPPORTING DEVICE IN ANY OF SAID POSITIONS. 